AYDON

Identity: confirmed — The Northumberland Archives manor history file explicitly identifies AYDON as a single manor comprising the distinct townships of Aydon and Aydon Castle, with Aydon Castle containing the manor house and demesne lands. This matches the registry location at Corbridge, Northumberland and the TNA/MDR record F282251.
Representative point: 54.9914, -1.9994
Basis: documented_manor_house — Aydon Castle, also called Aydon Hall, is the surviving fortified medieval manor house and documented manorial centre of the Aydon manor. Historic England gives National Grid Reference NZ 00135 66316, corresponding approximately to 54.9914, -1.9994 WGS84.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to early modern manor; territorial composition documented in sources from the medieval period through the nineteenth century.
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The available evidence establishes that the manor consisted of Aydon and Aydon Castle as two distinct townships within one manor, and that Aydon Castle contained the manor house and demesne lands. Historical descriptions also identify open fields, demesne lands and individual holdings, but no authoritative source located in this research supplies a complete manor boundary or map from which a defensible polygon can be reconstructed. The Aydon Castle township acreage and modern or former civil-parish boundaries were not substituted for the manorial boundary.
Sources:
- Northumberland Archives, Manor History File: Aydon: https://northumberlandarchives.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Manor-History-File-AYDON.pdf — States that Aydon and Aydon Castle were two distinct townships within a single manor, with Aydon Castle comprising the manor house and demesne lands; summarizes the manor's descent and ownership.
- Historic England, Aydon Castle medieval hall, fortified manor and eighteenth century farm buildings, List Entry 1011645: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1011645/ — Identifies Aydon Castle as a medieval fortified manor, records the earlier medieval manor remains, and gives National Grid Reference NZ 00135 66316 for the manor-house site.
- Northumberland County History, Volume X, Aydon and Aydon Castle: https://www.electricscotland.com/northumberland/historyofnorthum10nort.pdf — Provides detailed historical and landholding evidence for Aydon and Aydon Castle, including demesne lands, open fields, named holdings and the division of the manor's interests, but not a complete perimeter suitable for polygon reconstruction.
- The National Archives, Manorial Documents Register record F282251: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F282251 — Registry record supplied for the exact manor identity: AYDON, Corbridge, Northumberland, authority/reference GB/NNAF/M305518.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is suitable for locating the manor's documented manorial centre at Aydon Castle, not for asserting the full extent of the manor.
- No historically grounded complete manor boundary polygon was found; do not inject a polygon based on the modern parish, former civil parish, township, or the 393-acre Aydon Castle township alone.